iFather Daughter Dance
by shana852963
Summary: Ridgeway is having a father-daughter dance for its seniors before graduation. Of course, Sam claims she's fine when Carly brings it up, but her boyfriend, Freddie, and Spencer seem to know better. Just a quick oneshot I've been playing with for a little bit.


"And you said these wouldn't taste good," Sam said as she opened up the waffle maker housed in her locker. "Look at them! They're perfect!"

"Yeah, what was I thinking," Freddie chuckled. "Of course waffles with bacon bits and beef chunks would taste good."

"It's so good!" Sam said, taking a bite. "You want some?"

"As happy as I am that you're finally starting to share your food with me," Freddie smiled. "I think I'll pass."

"Your loss, baby," Sam shrugged.

"Hey, guys, guess what!" Carly said, rushing over to Sam and Freddie. "Um, what's in that waffle?"

"Bacon and beef chunks," Sam replied.

"Ah," Carly nodded.

"So what's the big news?" Freddie asked, putting an arm around Sam's shoulders.

"Look! There's going to be another school dance!" Carly said, showing them a flyer.

"Another one?" Sam moaned. "But we just had prom like, two weeks ago!"

"What? You didn't have fun with me?" Freddie asked.

"I did," Sam nodded. "But the heels and the strapless bra...ugh. Not looking forward to having to do all that again."

"It's a dance just for the seniors graduation next week," Carly said, looking at the flyer. "And it's only for the girls. It's a father-daughter dance! Doesn't that sound cute?"

"A father-daughter dance?" Sam frowned.

"Yeah," Carly nodded. "And the timing's great! My dad's coming home that week so he can be here for graduation, so him and I could-oh. Sam, I'm sorry, I forgot-I shouldn't have brought it up."

"What? Carly, relax," Sam said. "I'm just glad this means I don't have to go."

Freddie and Carly exchanged glances as Sam continued to eat her waffle. They both knew that Sam's father was a touchy subject with her. She rarely spoke of him, and on those few instances, it was always just a quick utterance and then she changed the subject. But they knew that he had left her when she was very young, and despite Sam's refusal to talk about him, he had hurt her when he walked out of her life.

"You sure you're okay?" Carly asked.

"Let's see, instead of going to a dance where I'd be expected to be polite and eat my food with my mouth closed," Sam said. "Only two weeks after I did all that stuff for prom, I get to stay in and relax? Yeah, I think I'm good."

"Yeah, hey, why don't I take you out to that rib buffet?" Freddie said. "You can have another crack at beating that record for most racks of ribs eaten at the restaurant!"

"I still say I could've done it last time if we hadn't had those snow cones before," Sam said. "But yeah, sounds like a date."

"Just make sure you have fun," Carly laughed. "Though with Sam, I know she'll manage to enjoy herself anywhere they serve ribs."

...

"So then my mom tried to get me to start taking these pills that are supposed to make me stop absorbing so much sunlight," Freddie said, typing on his laptop, Sam's head resting on his shoulder. "Because she says I'm getting too tan, and apparently, that's going to cause me to get the sudden desire to move to California." He looked at Sam, expecting his girlfriend to make some wise remark about his insane mother, but instead she looked lost in thought, staring at he T.V. screen in the Shay's living room.

"Sam?" Freddie frowned. "Sam, did you hear me?"

"Huh?" Sam said, jerking out of her daze. "What?"

"I just gave you perfect material to mock me with," Freddie said. "And you're not going to do anything with it?"

"Oh, um, yeah, you're a nub," Sam said quickly.

"Are you okay?" Freddie asked. "You totally spaced out on me."

"Well you were boring me," Sam snapped. "Hey, Spencer? You have any ham left?"

"Yeah, I think there's some in the fridge!" Spencer called back, standing on the island in the kitchen.

"Um, okay, I've got to ask," Freddie said as Sam got up and headed to the fridge. "What are you doing?"

"Changing the light bulb up here," Spencer said. "It went out right in the middle of my bake club this afternoon! And we were making custard!"

"Dude, we all know this is just going to end with the lightbulb bursting into flames," Sam said, picking up a plate of ham from the fridge. "Hey! You got the honey glazed ham! Thanks, Spence!"

"Yeah, no prob," Spencer said, jumping up off the island. "And for your information, this lightbulb is _not _going to burst into flame. Watch."

He turned up the light switch, and the kitchen light turned on, just like new.

"Impressive," Freddie said as Sam took her seat back next to Freddie. "I guess you've finally gotten the hang of electrical wiring." He turned back to Sam. "Listen, are you sure you're okay about this whole dance thing? It's totally normal for you to be upset about it."

"Upset about what?" Spencer asked, sitting down in the chair next to the couch, pulling off his shoes to reveal red and purple striped socks that lit up.

"Well," Freddie said, glancing over at Sam. "See, the school's having this dance for the girls next week, a father daughter dance."

"Oh," Spencer nodded. "I remember Carly saying something about that. She was really excited."

"Yeah, she should be," Sam said. "Carly's really close to her dad; the two of them will have a blast at that dance, while I get to eat endless ribs."

"Look, Sam," Freddie sighed. "Ever since Carly mentioned that dance yesterday, you've been sort of...quiet."

"What?" Sam frowned.

"I just think maybe this whole thing is bothering you more than you're letting on," Freddie said softly.

"First of all," Sam said, stuffing a piece of ham into her mouth. "My dad left like, twelve years ago. I _think _I've had enough time to get over it."

"Wait, so you were only six?" Spencer asked.

"Good calculating there, Spencer," Sam chuckled. "And second of all, even if my dad _was_ still around, I told you, I'm not into dances! Besides, I've already been to one of these things...sort of."

"Sort of?" Freddie repeated.

"How can you _sort of_ go to a dance?" Spencer frowned.

"I-well, when I was in first grade, like, two years before I met Carly," Sam started. "My school had one of these lame dances."

"So you went with you're dad to that one?" Freddie asked.

"Um...not exactly," Sam admitted. "Me and Melanie were planning on going with him to it. Or, you know, Melanie was going to drag me to it whether I liked it or not. She-She was the one who was really excited about it, not me," she added, though Freddie knew by the tone of her voice that this wasn't completely true, and judging my the expression on Spencer's face, he had saw through that lie as well.

"I mean, she's the one spent hours finding the perfect dress to wear," Sam continued. "And spent all day trying to do her hair."

"Right, so what happened?" Spencer asked.

"A couple of hours before the dance, my dad told my mom he was gonna run to the store and pick up some eggs," Sam shrugged. "And well, you know, he kind of never really came back, so obviously we didn't go to the dance..."

"Sam, that's awful!" Freddie said.

"No, not really," Sam said. "After a couple of days, once my mom figured out he wasn't coming back, she sold all of his stuff and she had enough money to put me in karate lessons! That's where I learned to really punch properly...and then I got kicked out for flipping the teacher. But the point is, I already did the whole father-daughter dance thing! I got all dressed up...I just sort of skipped the dance part."

"But isn't that the main part?" Spencer pointed out.

"No," Sam said quickly.

"But-" Freddie began.

"For the love of ham, will you guys cool it with the Dr. Phil chiz here?" Sam said, getting up. "Get it through your skulls! I. Am. Fine!"

She grabbed her bag and the plate of ham.

"Where are you going?" Freddie asked.

"Down to the smoothie," she replied. "Where I can sit, and be fine, in peace!"

"...So, she's not fine," Freddie said as Sam slammed the door shut.

"Nope," Spencer agreed. "Man, that was a depressing story."

"I know," Freddie said. "And of course, Sam being Sam, will never admit that even after twelve years, she still hasn't gotten over the fact that her dad left her. Right before that other father-daughter dance, too! I mean, how sad must that have been?"

Spencer nodded.

"I wish there was something we could do for her," Freddie sighed. "But I can't think of anything! We can't exactly go and track down her dad and bring him to her! He's probably made himself hard to find, and I'm _sure _Sam wouldn't want to even see him anyway!"

"Yeah," Spencer said. "Hey...wait a minute! I got an idea!"

"Please tell me it doesn't involve midgets this time," Freddie frowned.

"No," Spencer said. "And if I had just three more bagels, the midget idea would've worked last time!"

"Well what is is?" Freddie asked.

"Okay," Spencer said. "We-Ah! No! Not again!"

The light that hung over the island in the kitchen suddenly burst into flames. Freddie ran and grabbed the fire extinguisher, quickly putting out the fire.

"Aw, man!" Spencer moaned. "I thought the streak was broken!"

...

"Can you just take a few more pictures?" Carly asked, handing Sam her pearphone. "I want to upload some to Splashface. Come back over here, dad."

"Alright, I'm coming," Cornel Shay laughed, putting his arm around his daughter.

"Looking good, Carls, Mr. Shay," Sam smiled as she clicked a few pictures.

"Thanks," Carly smiled. "And you look nice too, Sam. I really like that dress."

"Well, tonight's the night I'm gonna get my picture on the wall of the rib buffet," Sam laughed. "I've got to look good."

"Speaking of which, our reservations are in half-an-hour," Freddie said, looking at his watch. "You done getting ready?"

"Yeah, let me just put my shoes on," Sam said, sitting down to slide on a pair of silver flats.

"We should probably get going too, dad," Carly said. "Hey, where's Spencer?"

"I think he said something about a bubble bath," Freddie said.

"Sometimes I wonder about that boy," Cornel Shay sighed.

"Well, have fun on your date, you two," Carly smiled. "I hope you break the rib record, Sam!"

"So," Sam said as Carly and her father left the apartment, closing the door behind them. "Are we ready to go?"

"Actually, baby," Freddie said. "We're not going out tonight."

"What?" Sam frowned. "Dude, I put on a dress for this! If you-"

"Let me rephrase that," Freddie said quickly. "_I'm _not going out. You are, but not with me."

"But then who-"

"Ta-da!" Spencer said, walking out of his bedroom wearing his tuxedo.

"What are you-?" Sam started, looking confused.

"Well," Spencer said. "I was _hoping _that you'd do me the honor of letting me take you to the father-daughter dance tonight. I know I'm not your dad, but I was thinking, since you never _did _get to go to one of these shindigs, maybe you'd like to go with me?"

"R-Really?" Sam blinked.

"Spencer and I were talking the other day," Freddie smiled. "You know, when you 'claimed' you were fine, and we thought you really did deserve to go to one of these dances for real, and that you should go with the closest thing to a father figure you have. And well, I thought...Spencer. He _is _the one who's threatened me about thirty times since we've started dating that I'd better treat you right or he'll, and I quote, 'pound my face into cottage cheese'."

Sam smiled. Spencer _really _did seem like a sort of dad to her, now that she thought about it. He was just as protective of her as he was Carly, she practically lived at his apartment throughout her childhood, so naturally, he took care of her...

"Yeah..." Sam said, still smiling.

"And so," Spencer said, holding out his arm for Sam to take. "Let us head out for a night of dance and terrible food served by the school's terrible budget."

"Yes," Sam laughed, taking his arm. "Let's."


End file.
